Zack Polanski urges Home Secretary to retract her 'offensive' accusations regarding Saturday's Palestine demonstration & review the evidence

 

Zack Polanski speaking at the Palestine Rally on Saturday

 

Zack Polanski,  deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, has written to the Home Secretary about the policing of Saturday's peaceeful Palestine demonstration in London.

 

Dear Home Secretary, 

  

I am a London Assembly member who attended and spoke at the peaceful Palestine Solidarity rally this weekend. 

The police were informed of our intention to protest against the decision to ban the march to the BBC. It was announced that a small delegation would walk silently and peacefully towards the BBC and lay flowers to commemorate the deceased if and when we were stopped by the police. Among our group were parliamentarians Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, along with many community organisations. 

As shown in many videos, police had agreed through negotiation that the delegation could pass through and lay flowers. However, they subsequently allowed a much larger group into Trafalgar Square. It is concerning to see Metropolitan Police tweets falsely stating that people were “forcing through.” 

Such language feeds false and often racist narratives about the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s protests that have been peaceful. 

I’m also disturbed by your own communications suggesting there was an intention to disrupt a synagogue. Many Jewish participants, including myself, find this accusation offensive. The goal was to protest the BBC's failure to report the genocide accurately, and this was planned quite some distance from the synagogue and way after services had ended. 

Public trust in our institutions is already fragile. Politicising the police and smearing innocent people only worsens this. I urge you to review the evidence including footage from body worn cameras from the event, retract your comments and clarify the situation with the Metropolitan Police.  

Thank you for your attention in this matter, 

Zack Polanski

Green Party Member of the London Assembly

 

 

New SPD on Residential Extensions and Alterations will make it easier to extend Brent residences

 

A new supplementary planning document on residential alterations and extensions will come into force on January 25th 2025 following its approval by Muhammed Butt in his role as Lead Member as well as Brent Council leader.

The aim is to ease the housing pressures by enabling easier extensions to houses and it also contains recommendations on flooding and biodiversity:

The Residential Extensions and Alterations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) is consistent with the priorities of the Borough Plan in a number of respects. In relation to the Prosperity and Stability in Brent priority it supports existing residents to meet their housing needs better by enabling them to extend their home more easily to meet their needs than in current guidance. This removes the need to purchase larger more costly homes and the associated moving costs. In relation to the Cleaner, Greener Future priority it seeks to ensure that existing green space, trees, plants and biodiversity is retained as much as possible in development and where possible additional provision is made. It is supportive of incorporation of renewable energy and low carbon space heating sources. It seeks to ensure development avoids areas of flood risk and addressed any additional surface water run-off created by retaining it on site.

 

In relation to the Best Start in Life priority, the ability of occupiers to more easily extend their homes should reduce the potential for over-crowding. It will allow for the opportunity for children to have separate bedrooms, with the associated benefits to sleep/ health and educational attainment. This also feeds into the Healthier Brent priority, as does the need to retain sufficient garden space/ green space which is known to be beneficial to physical and mental health as well as the measures to reduce the effects of climate change which will also be beneficial to health. Providing space may also allow carers  to live in properties to support occupants with a chronic health issue or disability.

 

EXTRACTS

Biodiversity

 

Regardless of any exemptions, you are encouraged to increase the biodiversity of your property by planting trees and flowering plants, retaining areas of long grass, nettles or overgrowth, introducing water features (ponds, bird baths etc) and creating a compost heap. You are also encouraged to include other measures not necessarily addressed by Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), such as Swift bricks, bat and bird boxes and holes in fences for hedgehogs. These are particularly important where features that provide habitats are lost, such as old structures with holes and crevices. Useful information on how to approach this can be found on the Woodland Trust website, and elsewhere.

 

 

Flooding

 

Impermeable hard landscaping with poor drainage can help cause flooding within the borough.

 

You are encouraged to address surface water flooding issues through the provision of natural features, such as rain gardens or green roofs, and by not connecting the drainage of any new hard landscaping to the existing sewer network.

 

If your extension or outbuilding is proposed within an area of surface water flooding, as shown on the Brent Local Plan policies map, you will have to amend your planning application accordingly. You will need professional advice to provide information to support your application, generally in the form of a Flood Risk Assessment. Key factors to consider include the depth and speed of the surface water during flood periods, and the volume of water that could be displaced by your extension or outbuilding.

 

Dimensions of extensions

 

 

Depth

 

For attached homes, such as terraced or semi-detached homes, single storey rear extensions could be up to 6 metres in depth from the original rear wall of your home.

 

For detached homes, single storey rear extensions could be up to 8 metres in depth from the original rear wall of your home.

 

Notwithstanding the above, the depth of single storey rear extensions must not be more than half the length of your garden. The area (sqm) of your garden that is retained should meet the relevant amenity space standards, as set out in Brent Local Plan Policy BH13.

 

Height

 

 Single storey rear extensions up to 3 metres in depth for an attached home, or up to 4 metres in depth for a detached home, could be up to 4 metres in height as long as they have an eaves height of no more than 3

metres.

 

A maximum height of up to 4 metres could be acceptable, for example, where the extension has either a mono-pitched or pitched roof.

 

Single storey rear extensions more than 3 metres in depth for an attached home, or more than 4 metres in depth for a detached home, could also be up to 4 metres in height as long as they have an eaves height of no more than 2.5 metres along the boundary to any neighbouring properties.

 

A height of up to 4 metres could be acceptable, for example, where the extension has a pitched roof

 

PLEASE DO NOT RELY ON THE EXTRACTS FOR GUIDANCE. THE FULL DOCUMENT IS HERE.

 

Zoë Garbett AM demands answers from Met over Palestine policing

Police wave people through but later arrest them

 

From London Green Party Assembly member Zoë Garbett

Following this weekend’s disgraceful policing tactics from the Metropolitan Police against protestors organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) to urge the British government to stop arming Israel, Green Party London Assembly Member Zoë Garbett issued the following statement:

I’m outraged at the way the Met handled this weekend’s protest. Policing is about choices, and it was the Met’s choice to arrest peaceful protestors at such unnecessarily high rates. 

The Met cannot have it both ways: repeatedly changing where and how protests can occur, arresting people for breaching overly complex protest restrictions, and posting misleading public statements after the fact is not the way to facilitate protest.

The Met complains when protest groups don’t engage with them, yet when groups like Palestine Solidarity Campaign do work with them in good faith, it seems the Met can’t do the same.

I plan to confront the Met Commissioner directly over this weekend's events the next time he sits before the Assembly. Londoners deserve to know exactly who their police officers are protecting and serving.

Brent Council reviews the first week of the Wembley Triangle/High Road closure

 

A Brent Council briefing on the first week of road reconstruction at Wembley Triangle gives a overview of progress and some of the problems they faced. A particular issue was the number of utility closures or restrictions on nearby roads

Kilburn Job Centre Fire: A stitch in time, Brent?

 

Guest post by Pete Firmin

 

On the afternoon of Friday 17^th, much of South Kilburn was in gridlock. Buses were backed up in Cambridge Avenue, without either passengers or drivers, and pedestrians were wandering around trying to work out how they could get anywhere. Kilburn High Road was blocked off from both Cambridge Avenue and Coventry Close by vehicle or foot.

 

The cause? A massive fire in the ex-Job centre on Cambridge Avenue (rear entrance Coventry Close). According to the Kilburn Times LINK 10 fire engines and 70 firefighters attended. Eye witnesses report seeing people jumping from windows to escape the fire (with one person seriously injured), and the police officer guarding the site (still, on Sunday,) telling me that there had been arrests.

 

This was not the first time the fire brigade has had to turn out to fires in that building, this was at least the 3rd time in a few months."

 

The ex-Job Centre has been closed and empty since March 2018. There have been rumours of it being taken over by a religious organisation and a failed planning application to turn it into housing, but locals haven’t seen any sign of development. A Kilburn Councillor was told that the owners ripped out all toilets when it closed to prevent occupation. Owner is Rossmore Properties, based in the City of London.

 

The building has been squatted many times since it closed, with some evicted as early as July 2018 LINK. 

 

But in the last few years the owners seem to have done little to prevent squatting – while access points have occasionally been blocked off, others have been created, to the extent that now a large part of a wall at the side of the building has been removed to create a new entrance.

 

The squatting has escalated in the last year or so, alongside a serious increase in squatting across South Kilburn, much of it in blocks that Brent Council has left semi-derelict as its regeneration stalls. It is thought that much of that is organised by criminal gangs, who then offer homes (at what price?) to the homeless. It is not just unoccupied flats with have been subject to this, and not just in blocks of flats which are part of Brent’s regeneration.

 

This writer has no objection to people squatting (truly) empty buildings at a time when homelessness is increasing and London rents are beyond many peoples reasonable scope. The problem in South Kilburn is that much of the squatting has been associated with theft and terrorising residents.

 

Rubbish accumulation

 

Neither Brent Council nor the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) (the previous occupants of the building) have any responsibility for the ex-Job Centre. However, Brent has known about the problems there for many years, and not just the squatting. For years residents have repeatedly reported the accumulation of rubbish next to the rear entrance. While Brent -rightly – says it is not responsible for clearing that rubbish since it is on private land, it has also refused to take action to force the owners to act. We have been told that “it is too difficult”. Yet now we see where Brent’s refusal to act has led – a massive use of resources by the London Fire Brigade and disruption to local residents.

 

Brent, under pressure from residents and quite probably the Fire Brigade, must now force the owners to act.

 

 Editor's Note

A little digging reveals two companies under the Rossmore Properties title. Rossmore Properties Ltd with net total assets of £3.4m and Rossmore Properties (Kilburn) Ltd  with rather less!

Dilip Amin is the sole director of both with a resigned officer at Rossmore Properties (Kilburn) Ltd and a total of 5 resignations at the main company.

Things get more complicated with NSS Trustees acting as  a Lender to the main company, the owner of the Job Centre, 3 Cambridge Avenue, NW6 5AH

The owner continues to have obligations including keeping the property in good condition (5.5):

Perhaps now that lives have been put in danger in the property, Brent Council will bite the bullet and take action.

Residents' meeting on drug and knife crime, Brent Civic Centre, Monday 27th January 6.30pm - 9pm

 

 

From Brent Council

Local residents are invited to a public meeting on Monday 27 January to discuss ongoing efforts to reduce drug and knife crime in Brent. 

 

Chief Superintendent Sara Leach will speak about the steps the police in Brent are taking to cut crime and build trust within the community. She will outline how the police are working alongside the council, local partners, and the community to make Brent a safer place for everyone. 

 

Brent’s commissioned support services will also explain how they help adults and young people who are worried about their own or someone else’s drug use.

The meeting will provide community members with the chance to share their views, voice their concerns and discuss ways everyone can work together to improve safety in the borough. 

 

Attendees will also have an opportunity to meet and ask questions of local police sergeants, police officers, council officers, addiction recovery advocates, and support workers. These representatives will share their ongoing efforts to tackle drug and knife crime and invite feedback on how they can better connect with local communities.

 

Councillor Harbi Farah, Cabinet Member for Public Safety and Partnerships, said:

 

This is an opportunity to hear what has already been done in Brent on these community safety priorities, find out how organisations and individuals can help reduce drug use and knife carrying, and suggest ways forward.

 

The public meeting is organised by the Brent Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB) which is made up of community members and partners, including the council. Its role is to scrutinise the police and enable the community to engage with the police. 

 

Following the meeting, the SNB will work with the police to ensure action is taken on the issues raised by residents. 

 

The meeting will take place on Monday 27 January, from 6.30-9pm at the Grand Hall in Brent Civic Centre. Refreshments will be provided, and there is no need to register in advance. The event will also be webcast online.

 

Zoë Garbett Green Assembly Member to London Mayor: You are ignoring the reality of estate regeneration

 This may resonate with South Kilburn residents:

Shortly after handing in a petition from residents of the Lesnes Estate for the Mayor to ‘call-in’ the proposed development, Zoë Garbett AM questioned the Mayor over his failure to acknowledge how much he has ignored the reality of Londoners suffering through the city’s ongoing estate regeneration.

Quoting lived experience of those residents from the Thamesmead estate, Zoë pointed to the real-life impacts of estate regeneration on individuals and communities across the city, drawing on their awful living conditions, uncertainty, and displacement.

Following the exchange, Green Party London Assembly Member Zoë Garbett said:

Estate regeneration is displacing Londoners, ripping communities apart with no accountability for the developers and landlords tasked with improving housing across our city. Refurbishment should always be the default option.

Estate regeneration can drag on for years, decades even. There are very few safeguards to make sure this doesn’t happen. It's a lottery – and the Mayor needs to listen to residents to prevent more councils, housing associations and developers embarking on more disastrous regeneration schemes.

My biggest thanks to the residents of the Lesnes Estate for showing me around their community, and for forcing this issue onto the Mayor’s desk before the crisis gets any further out of hand.

In response to the concerns raised, the Mayor said:

I’ll undertake today to get my Deputy for Housing to look into this issue, but also to work with you, Zoë, to try and ameliorate the circumstances [residents] are living under.

To view the full exchange, please click here

UPDATE: Drivers ignoring Wembley High Road ban WILL be fined, Brent Council confirms. Fine £130 or £65 if paid within 14 days.

 

Following rumours that the cameras on the closed section of Wembley High Road are not being used to catch drivers ignoring the 'Buses and Emergency Vehicles Only' restriction, a reliable source at Brent Council has said that the cameras are working and are catching unauthorised vehicles. The motorists will all receive a fine.

UPDATE:

 Councillor Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure, said: 

People using the emergency/bus lane without authorisation will receive a fine of £130 or £65 if paid within 14 days. We've communicated the closure widely, officers have been on site to speak with motorists, and we've also increased signage around the area to make the situation crystal clear.